Prologue

On the morning of Friday, a child was born to the world. He belonged to a traditional family who lived in a village in China. His parents who desired to have a child really welcomed him to their lives. They took care of him and treated him very well despite of their financial limitations. His name was Chengxue (eng meaning: continuous learning).

Chengxue grew to be a good son. He liked to help his parents to trade in the market after he went back from school. Both of their parents often warned him not to spend his spare time to help themselves. They suggested him to play along with his classmates. However, instead of doing what they suggested to him, he always assist his parents' business with all that he could do.

Despite of his dedication to help his parents, it didn't mean that Chengxue ignore the relationship with the other people. In fact, he was an active student in his school. He wasn't use his time to study there, but also to follow several clubs in order to construct the network with other people, such as debate teams, academic clubs, and martial arts clubs. In addition, he had a good record in his class. He was liked by the teachers, his classmates, and the other students because of his good behaviour and his good achievements (academic and non-academic).

However, the good life would not always be good. One day, the village where Chengxue lived was attacked by a gang. Tears and screams decorated the place that was formelly peaceful. The gang didn't think twice to release some shots, injuring even killing several people. Of course, this was a horror view for the citizens of the village.

"I will take care all of young people in this place. I will make them as my slaves HAHAHA!" shouted the gang leader.

After saying that, the gang leader instructed his subordinates to forcefully take away the young citizens. Of course, many of their parents weren't not willing to let go of their children to be slaves. However, the gang didn't care about that. They would simply beat any parents who didn't want to cooperate with them.

The same thing also happened to Chengxue's parents. Of course they didn't want their only precious son to be taken as a slave. Wanting to replace his son, Chengxue's father begged to one of the gang to take him away. He even bowed down and grabbed the gang's feet, repeatedly requested to be taken away instead of his son.

Being attracted with the request from Chengxue's father, the gang leader then approached him and kick his body without showing any mercy. With a condescending gaze, the gang leader looked at the poor man near his feet.

"Who say that you have a right to do request!" Stopping to talk for a while, the gang leader brutally kicked Chengxue's father, causing him to shout in pain. After he was satisfied, he stopped kicking the poor man and turned his gaze to the other citizens. "I hope you didn't forget about the reason why I come here. You guys have large amount of debt. Since you didn't have enough money to pay it off, I will take your young people to be utilized. I think it's legit."

Being annoyed with the thing that Chengxue's father had just done, the gang leader lifted his right leg and prepared to step on the poor man. However, he directly stopped his action after he heard the scream of our main character, Chengxue.

"STOOOP! Stop hurting that old man!" shouted Chengxue.

Hearing the recent words that came out from Chengxue's mouth, the gang leader stopped hurting Chengxue's father. He starred to Chengxue with a probing gaze. He found no physical flaw on the young man that had just shouted at him. Feeling interested, he then decided to approach the young man.

"What's your concern about him? Is he your family member or something? You seem to care about him," mocked the gang leader as he pointed to Chengxue's father.

"Yes, he is. He isn't the person that you wanted. It is me, am I right? So, if you don't mind, please leave him alone," said Chengxue. Deep inside his heart, he actually felt affraid. However, in order to protect his father for being further tortured, he ventured himself to talk to the gang leader.

"Heh! Do you think that you have the right to negotiate with me? It's up to me to do as I want." The gang leader starred to Chengxue's father. Knowing that the poor man was Chengxue's family member, he wanted to torture Chengxue's father again.

Watching the gang leader's action, Chengxue directly approach him, giving him a bundle of documents. The gang leader looked interested with those things.

"What's this?" asked the gang leader.

"That are my school report cards from elementary to high school, consisting of good achievements and good scores. They are the proof that I am worth in my school. Tell me, you surely want to take away a person like me, right?" said Chengxue.

"Of course. I want to be able to finish all of my project quickly. So, I need some clever boys to be recruited," uttered the gang leader as he read Chengxue's report cards one by one.

"Then you better not to touch him and the other citizens also. Forget to take all of the young people. You have me," warned Chengxue.

Hearing Chengxue's words, the gang leader laughed. For him, the young boy was just trying to bluff him. "Oi, boy. Who do you think you are? How dare you say like that to me?"

"I'm nothing compared to you, Sir. But...." Chengxue hung his words. Steadily, he took a penknife and put it on from his wrist, being ready to slash it anytime. "If you don't do as I want, I don't thing that you can bring me alive."

"Are you blackmailing me?" asked the gang leader as he narrowed his eyes.

"Probably," answered Chengxue shortly.

The gang leader gave Chengxue's report cards to his secretary, demanding her to check whether they were original or fake. He had sure that Chengxue was something. He could see that from the boy's way in speaking and negotiating to him. It was beyond the general boys' behaviour. However, he still needed to make sure that the boy was really something.

"Chengxue. Currently, he was at twelfth grade, majoring in social science. He never achieved scores below ninety and he was actively engaged in several clubs, such as debate club, journal club, and martial arts club. He achieved several achievements, such as the first champion of National Martial Arts Competition, the third champion of National Speech and Debate Competition, and the second champion of National Scientific Journal Competition. He is such a brilliant boy, Leader," informed the gang leader's secretary.

Hearing his secretary's words, the gang leader growled as he annoyed. He had a strong desire to recruit the person like Chengxue. On his eyes, the boy met the criterias to be his slave as he was clever and talentful. However, on the other side, he was currently cornered by Chengxue as the boy demanded him not to touch the other village citizens.

"I guess I don't have the any other option. If I ignored you now, I'm not sure that I can find the precious boy like you in the other places." The gang leader then instructed his subordinates to stop torturing the village citizens and to return the other young people that they had taken before. He did them all for being exchanged with Chengxue.

"I hope you will be worth it for me. My name is Shao Jiang, the leader of my gang group. From now, you will be my slave. Eh...not slave, but subordinate. So, I will take you away from here now and forever." Shao Jiang instructed his subordinates to gently take Chengxue away from his home.

Chengxue's parents obviously weren't willing to let their only child being taken away by those gang. They ran to Chengxue and hugged him tightly. The gang were ready to drive away them forcefully. However, Shao Jiang gave the sign to them not to do that, understanding that the farewell moment between parents and child was precious. So, he gave Chengxue ten minutes to say some last words to his parents.

"Mama, Papa, please don't be sad. I do this for your sakes and the others also. I promise that I will not forget you all," said Chengxue trying to calm his parents.

"Please...please bring this with you," said Chengxue's mother as she gave her son a necklace. Deep inside her heart, she felt sad because she should split up with him. But, she couldn't do anything to stop his son's will. After all, he did this to protect the entire village citizens, including herself.

Chengxue's father didn't say anything to Chengxue. He hugged his son tightly, followed by his wife who did the same. After the given ten minutes went by, Shao Jiang's subordinates came to separate them with their son, bringing him along with Shao Jiang's group.

Shao Jiang took Chengxue and turned the boy to be an assassin. He taught the boy everything that an assassin do, such as use of all weapons and poisons, advanced martial arts, strategy, and observation skill. In order to get the full potential from Chengxue, Shao Jiang forbade him to establish any relationship with the other people.

Shao Jiang's betting seemed to produce sweet fruit. Within just five years, his group's ranking skyrocketed in the black market. His name was respected by the other gang. All of this might happen because of Chengxue.

Chengxue might learn all of the lessons that were given to him well within 2 years. Within the next three years, he made the brilliant performance by doing the given jobs without a major mistake. A human still could do mistake. But for Chengxue, at least the done mistake didn't make he failed his mission.

For the five years with Shao Jiang, Chengxue filled his life by raiding, torturing, and killing. His life had became abnormal after he followed the gang leader. He was sure that he couldn't go back to his previous normal life. Normal people would feel uncomfortable when there was a drop of blood on their hands. On the contrary, Chengxue felt that blood on his hands was a normal thing that he would get from doing his job. After killing, he would simply clean the blood from his hands and from the scene like the stain on the floor.

When Chengxue was 23 years old, Shao Jiang passed away due to cancer. This resulted on the hunting towards the members of Shao Jiang's gang group by those who hated Shao Jiang. All of Shao Jiang's subordinates had been slain by the mobs. Chengxue ran away to the nearby forest but was chased down by the armed men.

Being on the edge of the abyss, Chengxue couldn't go anywhere. Meanwhile, the armed men who seized him looked satisfied since they saw their target was cornered. He was instructed by them to surrender and they would treat them well. However, he didn't do as they please and started to combat them with all that he had. As the result, all of the men who chased him were died. Unfortunately, he received two slashes on his back and a gunshot on his right chest from that battle, making him seriously injured.

Chengxue realized that he couldn't survive any longer. On his final moment, he remembered his parents and the village where he lived before. The ragged breath turned weak as his sight gradually blurred. The final memory that he remembered was his birthday. It was the time when he happily celebrated his precious day along with his parents.

'Why is life so unfair? What is the reason for me to be put on this position? If only I had the power to set my life as my will, I would have had a perfect life where I hadn't had to lose love and affection,' thought Chengxue.

"Ah what a wasted soul."

The guttural sound came into Chengxue's hearing. He did his best to keep his eyes opened. He saw a figure of two people. He couldn't see them clearly since he was to weak to see them properly. He thought that they were the angels of death that were sent to take his soul.

"It's a pity that this young man died so early," said the male figure.

"You're right. I think he should stay live longer," said the female figure. "Oh, I have an idea. What if we make him as our successor."

The male figure didn't directly respond the female figure's words. He took a few minutes to consider them. After finished considering, he declared his decision. "I think it would be a nice idea. I know that this boy has a pathetic life. He fits with the criteria to be my successor. After all, I also have a pathetic life before."

"The female figure smiled at the male figure as she agreed with him. "Same with you. I found that this man is smart and strong person. He is more than enough to become my successor."

"It is destined then. We'll revived this young man as our successor," declared the male figure.

The two figures then combined their power to create a chess king piece. After that, the male figure inserted the piece to the dying Chengxue. The red light that was combined with blue light covered the entire body of the dying man.

Feeling that his body was drastically cured, he looked up to the two figures that gave him a big amount of power. He shortly asked their identities. "Who?"

"Be proud as you are revived by us, not as a pawn, but as our successor. Accept the great power of the two of the remaining 32 devil clans of the 72 Pillars. Be strong and don't dishonor our names. From now on, you will be known as the successor of Aharon Bael and Lynna Sitri."

The red and blue light that covered Chengxue's body became brighter. He was revived and transmigrated to a forest that he didn't know. He slowly opened his eyes, seeing light of the sun that enlightened the place where he was now. Feeling that he could normally breathe, he woke up and tried to identify his surrounding.

He jumped to a nearby tree and looked to the place around him. His sight then caught a view of city. 'Based on its size, it should be a large city. I think I should visit there and start to seek the information about where the hell I am right now.'

He jumped down from the tree, preparing to start his journey. When he had walked for several steps, he saw a blonde-haired girl was abused by a group of men. They tied the girl, gagged her mouth, and covered her eyes with a fabric. By judging from their appearance, he thought that they were the members of a gang.

The words that were said by Aharon Bael suddenly crossed back on Chengxue's mind. He obviously understood the meaning of the word 'revive.' He thought that he was previously died and that figures named Aharon and Lynna restored him to life. Simply, he was currently on the second life.

'If this is my second chance to live, I don't want to live as an assassin anymore. I will go to that large city and start a normal life as a normal guy,' thought Chengxue. So, he simply ignored what he just found as he didn't want deal with gangster again. However, right before he stepped away from there, he heard the converstation between the gang members that made him decided to do the opposite of his previous thought.

"We have captured the daughter of the leader of West Youkai Faction. This is a good achievement for us!" yelled the first man.

"You are right. Director will surely be proud of us. By using this little child, I'm sure that we will be able to cornered Yasaka, the leader of West Youkai Faction hahaha," mocked the second man.

Chengxue didn't directly jump in action. He stayed quiet as he tried to understand the topic of the gang members' conversation. 'West Youkai Faction? Yasaka? I don't know what and who are they. But, that little girl is surely the daugther of the figure named Yasaka.'

"Do you think that we will be success in conquering Yasaka and the West Youkai Faction just by taking her daughter as the hostage?" doubted the third man.

"Of course, Dude. Based on the information of our spies, Yasaka loves her daughter so much. This kind of personality will surely be able to be manipulated easily. She won't dare to use her power to beat us since the life of her precious daughter was on our hands. Gyahaha!" responded the fourth man.

"Anyway, what will we do to Yasaka and this child once Director managed to take down the West Youkai Faction?" asked the third gang member.

"I don't know with the child. But for Yasaka, Director has promised that he will turn her to be our personal maid to satisfy our needs. You know what I mean, right? Gyahahaha!" answered the fourth gang man.

"Honestly, Yasaka is so gorgeous and voluptuous. Having her as our personal maid would be a grace for us!" yelled the second man.

Chengxue couldn't help feeling angry after he heard the entire conversation among the gang members. He obviously understood what they and their group planned towards Yasaka and her faction, as well as what kind of dirty plan that they wanted to realize to her after they managed to take her faction down.

'This couldn't be tolerated at all. If their plan were truly realized, then Yasaka's little daughter would suffer a lot.' At a glance, some memories of his previous life appeared on his mind. How he forcefully lived a gloomy life as an assassin in order to protect his parents and his village. He didn't want to see the other people to live the same fate with him. Because of that, he decided to liberate that Yasaka's daugther.

'In the end, it seems that killing the bad guys for protecting the good guys is the fate that I can't run from,' complained Chengxue inside his mind.

Chengxue steadily approached the gang members, intending to beat them all. However, he didn't directly attack them since he didn't want they hurt the hostage. He already got used to such situation during doing the missions on his previous life. So, he planned to lure them away from the hostage and then he would finish them all.

"Oi. It seems that you guys are a military group or something. Can I join you?" said Chengxue as he did a slight smile.

"Who are you?" asked the first man. He acted as if he was the leading man from the gang.

"Me? I'm just a wandering man who intentionally apporach you. Like I said before, I want to join your group," said Chengxue confidently.

The first man chuckled as he scanned Chengxue's appearance from the hair to the feet. Acting as if he was an expert, the man analyzed Chengxue and tried to search for the possible hidden threat that Chengxue might hide. The man couldn't find anything that could possibly endanger him and the other men.

The second man looked to Chengxue with a condenscending look. He then said, "Judged from his look, this newcomer looked like a strong fighter. But, I think we should do some little tests to check out his ability."

"It's up to you. But, I think that we should do the sparring at there," said Chengxue as he pointed to the nearby spot, trying to lure them away from Yasaka's daughter, so he could combat them all. He looked at the hostage at a glance, seeing that her eyes were covered with a fabric. He slightly smiled as he thought that it was okay for him to do his action.

"Okay then. I have checked the surrounding before and I don't find any threat that may endanger us. So, I guess that leaving the hostage for a while won't be a big deal. We can still keep our eyes to her after all," said the first man as he agreed with Chengxue's words.

The men brought Chengxue to a spot that was a little further from the hostage's position. They surrounded him, looking at him with a disdainful gaze. They planned to use this moment to bully him. They set their brass knuckles on their hands and prepared to attack him.

However, being already trained in dealing with armed men, Chengxue managed to attack the gangsters before they could even touch him. The first man tried to attack Chengxue within a poor stance. Chengxue managed to fend the man's attack by sweeping his wrist and thrusting a needle to his armpit. After that, Chengxue simply ended the man's life by thrusting another needle to his neck, right on his carotid artery.

Chengxue repeated the same movements to the other men until he could slay all of them. Fortunatelly, he still had some needle inside his suit, so he could kill his enemy. He covered the gangsters' corpses with some bushes before he rescued Yasaka's daughter. He thought that she was still to young to witness such view. By using his pen, he cut down the rope that tied her.

"Who?! Who are you?!" yelled Yasaka's daughter to Chengxue, misunderstanding him as one of the gangsters that kidnapped her.

"Please don't be afraid of me. I am Chengxue. I will bring you back to your mother. Now, tell me where is your home? I'll escort you to there uhm..." Chengxue hung his words as he hadn't known the name of Yasaka's daughter yet.

"Kunou...my name is Kunou."

"Okay then, Kunou. Don't cry. I promise you that you'll be okay. I will protect you until you reach your mom," calmed Chengxue as he wiped the tears on her cheeks.

Being soothed by Chengxue, Yasaka's daughter stopped crying as she gradually believed in him. She told him that she lived in Kyoto together with his mother and the other youkai. Firstly, he didn't know what is youkai. She then explained to him about youkai as well as revealed to him that she was a youkai named Kunou. On the way to get out from the forest, the two of them had a little chat.

Chengxue walked out of the forest along with Kunou whom he carried on his back. When they were outside of the forest, they saw two groups of figures that stood facing each other, negotiating about a certain topic. Kunou pointed to the group that she recognized as the group of Youkai.

"Look out! It's Mom's group. I'm sure that she comes here to pick me up!" yelled Kunou.

"Okay then." Chengxue was about to escort Kunou to the Youkai group. However, he was hampered by a group of man which was the gangster mobs. It seemed that they didn't like the freedom of Yasaka's daughter. They growled and gave the hateful gaze to Chengxue.

"What the hell have you done?! Do you have any idea about the thing that you've done?!" yelled the leading man of the gangster mobs as he was annoyed at Chengxue who had freed Kunou. "Now, we'll make you paid for your deeds! Attack him and take back our hostage!"

"My beloved daughter has been freed. Now, take down all of the gangsters!" ordered the long blonde haired woman who were Yasaka, the leader of the youkai group and also Kunou's mother.

Hearing Yasaka's words, the leading man of the gangster mobs divide his group into two parties for attacking both of the Youkai group and Chengxue. The Youkai group that was lead by Yasaka might easily combat the mobs since all of the opponents were the ordinary human that didn't have any supranatural abilities. However, it was challenging for Chengxue to do that since he hadn't been able to unlock his demonic power yet, so he was currently equal to ordinary human in terms of supernatural power.

"Kunou...that is your name right?" asked Chengxue.

"Mou....I have already introduced my name during our little chat and now, you forget it easily. That's inappropriate!" pouted Kunou.

"Please forgive me then, Kunou. Anyway, can you close your eyes for a while?" said Chengxue.

"W-why should I do that?" asked Kunou with confusion.

Seeing Kunou's childish behaviour, Chengxue remembered the moment before he gave himself to work in Shao Jiang's group. A slight smile grew on his face. However, he directly got rid of his past memories as he saw the gangsters prepared to attack him by using their sword.

He reached into the pockets of his shirts and trousers, intending to find any weapons that he could use to combat his opponents. But, all that he found were just a pen. A sense of panic came to his mind, but he managed to calm himself in a short time. Once again, he slightly turned his sight to Kunou, checking whether she had closed her eyes or not.

"Kunou, if you close your eyes, I'll give you a present," said Chengxue.

"Do you promise?" asked Kunou childishly.

"Yes," answered Chengxue.

"Okay then. I'll close my eyes." By using her two palms, she closed her eyes. She knew that Chengxue was a good guy who would protect herself as he had been willing to release her from the men who kidnapped her. Therefore, she did as he instructed and entrusted her safety to him.

Seeing that Kunou had done as his instruction, Chengxue took a few steps forward. Holding his pen as if it was a knife, he was ready to combat his opponents who walked closer to him. "Let's do this quickly."

Two men horizontally slashed their sword towards Chengxue, trying to attack him. Their attacks could be easily dodged by him as he shifted back a few steps. Before they could launched the other attack, he dashed to them and thrusted his pen to their hands and legs, immobilizing them in instant time.

Four other men rushed to Chengxue as they tried to gang him up. Being a little overwhelmed by consecutive attacks from his opponents, he received a vertical slash on his left arm. Blood directly flowed out of his wound, but he simply ignored it. He didn't look panic, otherwise he slightly smiled to his opponents.

Again, those men launched consecutive attacks to Chengxue. At this time, Chengxue managed to dodge all of their attacks. He had recognized his opponents movements through the previous moment. Without wasting any chance, he thrusted his pen to the their weak points. Being unable to read and counter Chengxue's counterattack, they fell down to the ground with the wounds on their weak points.

The leading man of the group scared after he saw Chengxue taking down all of his men. On the other side, Yasaka and the other youkai also managed to beat his men. Realizing that he couldn't win this battle, he decided to escape. However, before he could do that, Chengxue catched him up, tackled him down, and gave several punches to his face, making he fallen unconscious in a few minutes.

Seeing that all of the opponents had been defeated, Yasaka directly approached Kunou and hugged her daughter tightly. She cried happily, being grateful for seeing her daughter in the good condition.

"Mom, is that you?" asked Kunou that was still closing her eyes with her palms.

"Yes, Kunou. It's me," answered Yasaka as she patted Kunou's head. She was about to opened her daughter's eyes, only to be stopped by Chengxue.

"Yasaka-san, I'm sorry that I was presumptuous, but I suggest you to open her eyes at home. Are you sure that you will let a little girl like her to see such scenes?" rebuked Chengxue as he pointed to the men that they defeated before. "Blood, corpses, and fire....I don't think they are nice to be seen by an underage child."

Yasaka took a look towards her surrounding. She realized that the condition of the died men that Chengxue and the youkai beat before might be a horrible scene for Kunou's mental health. Now, she knew the reason why Chengxue didn't let her to open Kunou's eyes right here right now. She then kindly smiled to him.

"Thank you for saving my daughter from those kidnappers, Young Man," thanked Yasaka.

"You're welcome, Yasaka-san," replied Chengxue. "Anyway, my name is Chengxue. I'm sorry for calling your name before introducing my own name."

"It's alright, Chengxue-san. After all, I am the leader of West Youkai Faction. All people from Kyoto will surely know my name," said Yasaka. "By the way, do you come from Kyoto?"

"Ehm....Honestly, I am a newcomer from foreign country. I'm on my way to go to that city, planning to stay for a while on there. Then, I save Kunou as I found her being taken as a hostage by a group of men," responded Chengxue as he pointed at Kyoto when he told Yasaka about his intention to go there.

"Ah, I see. Then, let's we continue our nice talk at my home," invited Yasaka.

"Alright then, thanks for the invitation, Yasaka-san. I'll come with you."